Friday, March 24, 2006

Cheaper Hurricane Hunting

Yesterday's Miami Herald carried a little-noticed item titled, "Storm tours: Our disaster is their thrill."

The subhead discloses more of the story: "A new breed of tourist may be heading to Florida, and they aren't in search of sun and sand. They want wind and rain, and are paying big bucks to find it.

In this case "big bucks" is --
"$1,500 and more for three days of little sleep, canned tuna and crackers and miserable weather. Customers are on a 48-hour e-mail notice list. They fly out to the site of a predicted landfall, jump in vans decked out with reclining seats and The Weather Channel and drive miles to a parking structure to wait for the storm.

After it passes, the tours wander around to see the damage."
We know a number of Pensacola Beach families who will gladly take in hurricane chasers for less than $1,500. Just show up a few days before landfall. Be sure to bring, say, six sheets of plywood, a sack full of batteries, a week's supply of munchies, and a team of trial lawyers who specialize in suing insurance companies.

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